Dieting While Pregnant Can Cause Epigenetic Gene Changes

A recent study published in the FASEB journal have shown connections between diet and nutrition during pregnancy and the likelihood of the offspring getting type II  diabetes or suffer from obesity. It has been found that dieting during the time of pregnancy, especially during the final stages, as well as having twins can affect the offspring's ability to control and handle blood glucose levels. THese connections are both interesting and important for research because they are epigenetic, or not inherited from the parent to the offspring.



 

These changes occur during the fetal changes and are caused by behavior in the mother. This is leading to a knew saying, "We are what our mothers ate" since a mothers diet is now being connected to these epigenetic changes. These changes are not changes in the sequence of DNA, but an alteration of structure or histone/protein arrangement in the DNA molecules.